This is our second summer in Turkey. We arrived here a year ago on July 29, 2010. We flew in on the rotator and were greeted by my predecessor, Amit. He handed the job over to me and was off to his next assignment. And all of a sudden, it was just me. I was it. Incirlik staff pediatrician. The only pediatrician. It was, to say the least, overwhelming. And add to that the pressure of studying for my Peds boards. It was a tough end to a tough year. But by the grace of God, I (we) got through it.
Fast-forward one year and here we are in another boiling hot summer in Turkey. It's hit 100 degrees several days, causing the base to send out warnings about "Heat category 5" (which doesn't really affect me since I work indoors with central A/C). It's been a great first year here. We've made lots of wonderful friends, we are plugged into the base chapel, Shane found a part-time job at the school, and I am really enjoying my job & feeling more comfortable with it.
The first part of the summer was really great because my youngest brother Jacob flew out here to stay with us for 6 weeks. It was SO nice to have family here; a little piece of home. He and Shane went on a mission trip to Romania with the base youth group (I will let Shane write about that later... if he ever decides to get on this blog & write! haha). The rest of Jake's visit was filled with local trips, going to movies, playing board games, and just hanging out. I think the highlight of the trip (at least for me) was our trip to Cappadocia. We flew in a hot-air balloon (which I'll post a picture of below) and drove 4-wheelers through the amazing terrain. Unfortunately, I did not fare well on my 4-wheeler. I came down a hill too fast and crashed, falling off and scraping up my arm pretty good. But we still had a fun time there. Probably the other highlight of the trip for me was hanging out at the mall with Jacob. The two of us went there one night and walked around being goofy together. I filmed him jumping on a Tempur-Pedic mattress (he was trying to knock over a wine glass). Then we played arcade games (he schooled me at basketball). We finished off the night with McDonald's apple pies out on the terrace overlooking the Adana mosque (which Jacob described as "Disneyland for Muslims").
Jacob left a week ago, and the house has definitely been quieter without him. He's such a fun person, full of personality and a great sense of humor. I love him so much and I'm so glad we could spend quality time together. The rest of the summer seems to be passing pretty quickly for me & Shane. It's PCS season (military reassignments) so there seems to be a revolving door on this base. Every week there's a going-away party, and everywhere you turn there are new people moving in. It's so sad to say goodbye to good friends, but fortunately most of our close friends arrived here the same time as us so they have one more year as well. We don't have too many plans for the rest of the summer since we're getting ready to take a big trip home to the States in the fall... for our WEDDING!!! We're finally going to have the "big wedding" I always dreamed of as a little girl. Beautiful white gown and all. :) We're planning a little weekend getaway over Labor Day weekend, just a relaxing weekend at the beach for the two of us to un-wind. I still have a list of places I want to go before we leave Turkey, but as Shane reminds me often, we have time left to do those things. This assignment is going by so quickly; I just feel a sense of urgency to go to all the places I want to go. But we will probably wait until after our trip to the States to go on any big trips. Destinations up next: The Black Sea, Istanbul, Izmir, Ephesus, and maybe Fethiye if we have enough time/money.
Okay, now for some pictures:
Hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia - amazing!
Touring the underground city in Derinkuyu
Me & my brother Jake in Cappadocia
And here's a pic from the Romania trip (maybe Shane will post more...)
That's all for now. We're excited for what our second year of marriage will bring. Seems appropriate to start it off by taking our vows again. We'll be sure to post some pics from the wedding. Love to you all! xoxo :)
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